Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-02-22
THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY.


the advanced age OF SO to rise in his feeble
ness and protest against the cant of the
hour, that the day is deficient in men of
brains and power He declares that "if
an emergency called for display of intel
lectual and physical power, we are, per-
haps, as well prepared to-day as ever in
our history" The reservation expressed
refers, doubtless, to the decadence into
which the United States has permitted its
navy and coast defenses to fall.
Mr. Cameron is of the belief that in a
republic, such as ours, the emergency will
always provide the men who are equal to
| it, and it is true In 1660-61, believers
who were supposed to be in the majority
held that there were no men at the helm,
or to be placed there, capable of guiding
the national ship through the tempest
uous seas that beset her But how en-
phatically was the lie given to the pessi-
mistic speculations. The emergency de-
veloped a coterie of men who rallied the
lovers of the Union and saved the nation
from ruin, in the face of the sneerS and
frowns of the civilized world, and the open
expression OF nearly all peoples that
we had not enough of cohesive power
or reserve force or honest worth to
prevent the fabric of the republic from
going to pieces. 1t was shaken from
foundation to capstone its walls were
wrenched by the mightiest of political
earthquakes, but it came out of the trial
sounder, better, grander than before
purged of blemish and defect, and with
added adornments to its noble architecture
The men of emergency came, just as they
would again, to the call of need-.just as
they will if Socialism, venality, rebellion,
bigotry or faint hearts again put the ex-
pertinent of free government and demo-
cratic forms to the test. The statesman
ship and brain power will develop to
guide, and the strong arms and brave, true
hearts will present to repel foes of liberty,
whatever their disguise or however insid-
uous and devilish their assaults.
The truth is, we are given too much to
depreciating the present, to underesti-
mating the patriotic depths, to passing
over, because of nearness of view, the real
strength and wisdom of the country. We
forget, indeed, when we sharply criticise
the leading spirits of the period, that they
are of our day and hour, and are neither
better nor worse than the community that
makes them what they are. We are apt
to forget that all history teaches that the
latent force of a people is not known by
surface indications, nor reserve power by
everyday manifestations. In the pre-
revolutionary period, the men who shortly
alterward served so nobly at their coun-
try's affairs, and did her gallant
service in the forefront of battle
and the counsels of wisdom, were
not esteemed by their local circles as
above reproach; nor did they, in lofty
assumption Of superior virtue and wisdom,
refrain from party contention, the hot de-
bate of warning political factions, or in
diligence in depreciatory criticism of each
other.
The vitality of the nation, the perpe-
tuity of free institutions, do not depend
upon the every day manifestations of wis
dom or power about us. We have
men in plenty who are strong enough we
need only to recognize true worth and en-
courage honest ambition, while we con-
denim venality and spun weakness. Our
laws are good enough, if only we insist
upon their enforcement, and do not, by
evasion and winbing al. theirdisregard, set
the example to those who serve us. That
there is corruption in politics, wickedness
in the seats of power, venality upon the
highway, is chargeable to our own laches
and shameful lack of personal courage.
Deep down beneath all the outward
manifestations the patriotic current runs
resistless, and it will bear the nation on to
its goal What is demanded of us is to do
what can be done to make the surface
waters clean, and to prevent, as we may,
the necessity for storms that purify, and
the sometimes necessary commissions that
eXpel foul elements The patriotism
of the country is not lacking; the
power Of the nation is sufficient
What we most need is, as Dr. Holland
delighted to put it, the gentleman in pol
itics." off our political men were only all
gentlemen" he kept repeating, enifthey
were no more than ordinarily intelligent,
we should find our political affairs in good
condition, and the great questions that
stand before us in fair way of being
properly adjusted" The great journalist
had, however, his definition of the gentle
men to add as qualifying clause-"a per-
son who knows something of the world,
who possesses dignity and self-respect, who
recognizes the rights of others, and the du-
ties he owes to society in all his relations
VINO WOulu rs SOOn COi1ullL SulClue as STAN
his palm with bride; who would not de-
grade himself by intrigues."
That we so largely leave Titcomb's ger
tleman 10 the quiet of private lie, and 90
not bring him into political activity and
service is our own fault and his. Still,
when the rogues have fattened for their
sacrifice, when the venal have too long de-
filed the temple with money changing, and
the enemies of free government are ready
10 apply the torch, let us not fear, for the
emergency bring the gentleman, other
wise the honest, self-respecting, patriotic
courageous citizen, to the front, and states
manship and valor will undo the conspira-
cies of the foes of liberty.
Hz-==z.z---z.zz-@z
THE STATE PRISON DIRECToRs.-At
regular monthly meeting of the Board of
State Prison Directors, at San Quentin, on
Saturday, petitions were received from
prisoners, complaints against other prison